


And With a Little Luck from You

by ughimtoolazy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Beacon Hills Lacrosse Team, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Thiam Big Bang
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27574328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ughimtoolazy/pseuds/ughimtoolazy
Summary: The only thing Liam wanted for his sophomore year was for his lacrosse team to win play offs- too bad they fucking sucked. Instead God gifted him with something else; Theo Raeken.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28
Collections: Thiam Big Bang 2020 Collection





	And With a Little Luck from You

**Author's Note:**

> Here is my Thiam Big Bang 2020 entry. I had of fun writing the topic I got! A big thanks to my artist LIONH3ART.

It was pretty clear to Liam that he knew one thing about his lacrosse team- _they fucking sucked_. This wasn’t just him being an asshole, like he was about 73% of the time. No; they were just really fucking terrible. He sighed from his position on the bench as he watched Stiles trip over himself, leading to a complete domino of players piled up on each other. 

There was no way they were making it to State. Hell, there was probably no chance of winning a single game of the season, let alone them somehow managing to beat every team in the district. 

“Hey Dumb-bar you gonna sit there all day?!” Stiles had shaken off his embarrassing fall with little to no shame, immediately going back to his usual taunting. Liam rolled his eyes in response. 

“I don’t know. Are you gonna learn how to fucking walk?” Liam sneered back with no actual bite, getting up and tackling the other boy back onto the ground. Stiles went easily with a smile. 

“What can I say? I am really good at falling!” 

Liam got ready to push him back down, when Scott, their captain, clapped his hands together. 

“C’mon guys, If Coach catches us messing around too much he’s going to make us run even more laps and we’ll never actually practice.” Scott gave them both a pointed look that said ‘ _and we need the practice, dipshits’._

“Ay, ay captain,” Stiles said with a salute, that Liam mimicked behind him. Scott rolled his eyes in retaliation.

“Whatever.” Issac came running in, to tackle Stiles back down. “It’s not like any amount of practice will fix Stiles’ two left feet.” 

“Suck my dick, Lahey,” Stiles spat from the ground as Liam couldn’t help but let out a small giggle that turned into a barking laugh. Issac was an asshole, but so was Stiles. Scott wasn’t enjoying the shenanigans nearly as much. His head was back in his hands, which, from Liam’s observations, was one of its favorite resting places. 

“Guys seriously if Coach-”

“ _What the hell are you all doing_?” Coach Finstock appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, from behind a giant orange jug of badly brewed Gatorade. His scowl spoke even louder than his usual screams. 

Liam straightened his hair and uniform, as if that would help Stiles up from the ground. Coach glared at the group furiously, while all of them tried their best to make their shit eating grins into something more apologetic. It didn’t work in the slightest.

“McCall!” He barked, pointing a stubby finger into Scott’s chest, scrunched face inches from Scott’s own wide eyed pout. Liam flinched, Coach Finstock was known for having tuna sandwiches for lunch. “Can you let your sidekick know that it's not nap time?”

“ _Sidekick_?” Stiles sprung back from his two time defeat. “If anyone’s the side-”

Scott quickly slapped a hand over Stiles’ giant gaping hole of a mouth. “He will not be taking anymore naps.” Stiles’ muffled protests could be heard as Scott nodded his head for him. “No more naps.” 

Coach’s eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of his head and Liam had to cover his mouth to hold in his laughter, knowing that would set the Coach off more. Somebody didn’t get the memo though. Liam whipped his head around when he heard a soft chuckle erupt from behind him. His eyes gave the Coach’s own stare a run for his money as his gaze fell upon a smiling Theo Raeken. 

Theo Raeken. Beacon Hills High School resident fuck up and overall douche canoe. His presence just irked Liam. Some of that instant annoyance may have stemmed from some not so friendly encounters (i.e. The Chocolate Fountain incident of 2016). Yet here he was in 90 degree weather standing there in a leather jacket like he wasn’t sweating his balls off underneath all that smugness. And he was wearing jeans- tight jeans- God, Liam really hated the asshole. He even had the audacity to return Liam’s glare with a blinding smile. 

“What the hell is _he_ doing here?” Liam demanded, pointing an accusatory finger which only caused Theo’s grin to widen. At his exclaim, the entire team turned their attention from Stiles and Coach’s show down to Theo, who suddenly looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable with all the staring. Liam assumed a self assured asshole like him would love any sort of attention- good or bad. 

Coach Finstock’s grin twisted into something a little more insane than usual. “This little screw up,” he said, grabbing on to the collar of Theo’s jacket. “Is gonna be our new waterboy.” 

“What the fuck.”

“Language, Stilinski.”

“I’m sorry, Coach,” Stiles apologized, rubbing the back of his neck ruefully. “I meant, who the fuck decided that?”

“Stilinski, push-ups now!” Coach hollered. He rolled his eyes as he watched Stiles barely form push-ups on the ground. “Anyway, like I was saying- this screw-up decided he didn’t wanna show up to class anymore and now we’re stuck with him.” He shook Theo by the collar for emphasis. “So, everybody give a warm welcome to your new waterboy! And you, new waterboy? Get your ass to the locker room and change into something that doesn’t look like it’ll rip if you bend the wrong way!”

He pushed Theo in the direction of the school while Theo stood there looking just as perplexed as everyone else. Coach Finstock raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

Theo looked sheepishly at the ground. “I don’t-

I don’t know where-” 

Jesus Christ!” Coach rolled his eyes, throwing his hands in the air like Theo was the biggest inconvenience in his life. Liam couldn't help but giggle at that- which in turn earned him a glare from both the Coach and Theo. “You never been to gym class or what?” Coach then approached Liam, dragging Theo along with him and latching on to Liam’s collar as well. “Since Dunbar thinks that’s so goddamn funny, he can show you where we keep our extra uniforms OK?” Liam groaned, while everyone else looked a little too amused, even Stiles, who was barely managing to do a single push up correctly. “And everyone else- 50 laps around the field, for standing around like a bunch of tulips!”

It was Liam’s turn to smirk as everyone groaned, while Coach Finstock threw him and Theo to the direction of the gym.

“Now!”

Liam immediately started stalking across the field, not bothering to check if Theo was following him. He faintly heard Stiles complain that he couldn’t do push-ups and run at the same time. Theo let out a little snort.

“Stiles is as ridiculous as always.”

Liam looked wearily at Theo before he responded “Yeah it’s Stiles he’s been like this since the second grade.” He paused, contemplating how friendly he should be treating Theo. On one hand he was a douche, but on the other hand Theo was going to be handling all their drinks so he could easily poison Liam in the near future. Liam would rather die than be nice first. “Just because you went to Juvie for a year doesn’t mean everything is going to magically change around here.”

Theo rolled his eyes in return. “I didn’t go to Juvie asshole- though I guess you would know all about that.” Theo stopped walking, placing his chin in hands and tilting his head. “How did you transfer here again?”

Liam growled back, “You’re such an asshole; you know that?”

“I already used that, sweetheart. Get a new insult,” Theo responded with a wave of his hand and a smile that said he enjoyed taunting Liam just a little too much. “And you’re the one who started this.” He gestured between them with a lazy finger that Liam really wanted to snap in half. “What? Are you still mad that I got your girlfriend covered in chocolate? I said I was sorry.” Theo gave him an exaggerated pout that was so ridiculous that Liam let out a small chuckle.

“Gross,” Liam punctuated his exclaim with a punch. “Don’t make me throw up.”

“Dunbar! Stop flirting with the help,” coach screamed from a distance. Liam immediately flushed as his team wolf whistled, backing away from Theo, who he had gotten suspiciously close to. 

“We should get going,” Liam murmured at the ground, refusing to give Theo the satisfaction of looking straight into his dumb smirking face. He decided to jog the rest of the way back to the gym, really hoping Theo would start sweating in that stupid leather jacket of his. 

They got to the gym pretty quickly like that, Liam leading Theo into the back, musty corner where they kept their extra supplies. “Well here’s the treasure trove,” Liam sighed. “Let me know if you need anything else.” Which of course meant _‘don’t talk to me for the rest of practice_ ’. Theo just stood there, smiling.

“Of course sir; thank you for your service,” Theo replied with a curtsey. Liam rolled his eyes in retaliation and slammed the door harder than he probably should have, on his way out.

That asshole. There was only room for one sarcastic pain in the ass on the team and that role was already filled by Stiles. By the time Liam had made it back to the field, most of his teammates were lying on the ground, exhausted, while Coach berated them more.

“Dunbar, you are finally back!” Coach exclaimed. “Now we can get started on a practice match. Remember, in two weeks we have a scrimmage with Paragon prep? You better not make me look like an idiot out there.”

“That’ll be hard for some of us,” Issac chimed in.

“It’ll be hard for _all_ of you,” Coach corrected, with Issac lookin rightfully mollified. “But this should be an easy win, most of their team graduated last year, so you're basically playing a team of middle schoolers.” 

Great, an easy win; that will do a lot for the team’s morale after the last season was full of crushing defeat after defeat. It wasn’t even that they were particularly bad. Liam himself had been playing lacrosse _for forever_. But it was like something was missing- a whole pile of shiny new parts just put together in the wrong way. Liam wasn’t sure how to fix it and it seemed like neither did Coach Finstock. 

_They needed the right fit._

Their practice match wasn’t very promising. There was a little fight that had broken out when choosing teams. Liam could hear Theo snickering in the background and looked up to find that he still didn't learn how to pick clothes that actually fit him. The running shorts he had chosen were riding up his thighs as he lifted their equipment which actually left more to the imagination than the very loose practice jersey that hung from his torso.

Liam grinded his teeth together, wondering why that sliver of Theo’s back pissed him off so much. A loud clap from Scott pulled him out of his thoughts. 

“So teams,” Scott said, pointing at them individually. “Me, Stiles, Danny, Liam, and Corey. Versus Issac, Garret, Jackson, Nolan, and Boyd. Sound good?” Everyone nodded in agreement, but more so just to move the practice along, they really had wasted enough time. 

It was easy for Liam to slip into lacrosse mode and just like every cheesy Disney Channel original movie, he felt different on the field. For the most part he was an awkward teenager, didn’t know what to say in most situations- a little short, buck teeth, acne- the works. But on the field he was confident; he knew he was good- _then why were they always losing?_

Even if it was a practice match, Liam put his all into it. He couldn’t help it; he was an all or nothing type of guy and it showed in his playing style. Every one of his movements were sharp, hitting every toss and jab with full force, leaving little to no room for anyone to stand in his way- except for when they were built like a brick wall.

Liam fell over with a groan as he ran head first into Boyd’s shoulder.

“Hey man, you good?” Boyd asked, as held his hand out to help Liam up. Liam accepted it gratefully. “You always scare the shit out of me when you play like that!”

“Like what?” Liam asked as he hopped back up, bouncing a little to get back into the groove. 

“Like you’d do anything to get to the net,” Boyd responded, shaking his head. “It’s not that serious, man.” 

Liam stared at him wide eyed from under his helmet. But it is, he wanted to say, for me it is. Instead he shook it off with a laugh. “Sorry, I just get up in my head sometimes.” 

“Nah, it’s good,” Boyd patted his back. “Just making sure you’re ok.” 

“Of course,” Liam smiled hard and wide. 

Of course. 

The practice match went just as well as their usual matches, which meant it was an unmitigated disaster. Tripping over each other, missing easy passes, not paying attention when people were free, it was clear they needed more practice. 

“It’s ok guys!” Scott encouraged as everyone sat around moping, or in Stiles’ case squirting Gatorade into his mouth from an unnecessary distance. “It’s our first practice of the season; of course we are gonna be a little messy. Right Coach?”

Coach Finstock’s face did not move from his hands as he grunted, “Just clean up and get out of my sight please.” 

“Yes, Coach,” the team said in unison, as they got up and dragged themselves over to the locker room to shower and smell less like disappointment. 

Liam simply pouted and stayed put. “Can I practice for a bit longer, Coach?” Finstock raised an eyebrow in response. “I’ll clean up after myself!” 

Coach shrugged. “It’s your funeral, kid,” before following the rest of the team back to the school. 

“You gonna be ok by yourself?” Scott asked as he picked Stiles up on to his back casually. 

“Yes!” Liam nodded. “Get Stiles back inside before the heat kills him.” 

Scott chuckled, “Will do. See you tomorrow!” And with a huff he started the trek back to the school with Stiles whining that Scott wasn’t holding him tight enough. Liam watched them disappear behind the bleachers, before turning back to the now empty field with a sigh.

“Five bucks says Scott drops him on his ass before they can get to the locker room.” Liam whipped his head around to meet the glowering gaze of Theo Raeken. He had completely forgotten about their new waterboy during their practice match. It seemed like he had been observing the team quite closely. Liam shivered thinking about it- not really sure why. 

He snorted, “Ten bucks on Issac pushing him off.” That earned him a full blown dazzling smile. 

“I’ll take that action,” Theo said, as he started to pick up some of the stray equipment that the team had left out. “Didn’t know waterboy job fulfillments included janitorial duties.” 

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Liam snarked back, twisting his lacrosse stick in his hands. “Like you have anything better to do.” 

“I do.” Theo stopped what he was doing to give Liam a pointed look. “But it looks like you don’t.” 

Liam could feel his face heat back up, not from the sun unfortunately. “Shut up.” He shoved his helmet back on. “I don’t need to waste my time on you though.” He jogged his way back up the field, squaring up in front of the net again, picking up a stray ball by his ankle. With a deep breath, he swung hard, hearing the satisfying swish of the ball cleanly swooping into the back of the net. Liam couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face. 

“You’re actually pretty good you know?” Theo’s voice made the smile slip right back into his mouth. Liam turned to him with a pointed look.

“Thanks?” 

Theo shook his head. “You guys aren’t bad, but your team sucks for some reason.” 

Liam could immediately feel the anger bubble up his chest. He could say his team sucked, but no one else could. “Like you could do any better.” 

Theo held up both his hands defensively. “Didn’t say I could, but I do have an unbiased opinion.” Unfortunately he did make a good point, but that didn’t mean he’d have to admit it. 

“Well, there’s no point of saying it, if you don’t have any suggestions,” Liam bit back, feeling slightly more vilified. Theo had no idea how to work as a team. He barely even had friends. What did he know?

“I can give you one right now.” Theo suddenly looked a little shy, hands in his pockets as he stared anywhere besides Liam. 

“Oh really?” Liam took off his helmet to raise an eyebrow at the other boy. 

“Yeah, really,” Theo said, staring at Liam with those eyes that seemed to know more than he ever let on. “You need to loosen the fuck up.” 

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Theo stepped closer to Liam, which made him immediately tensed up. “See? Exactly my point.” He held on to Liam’s wrists, trying to tug at them to loosen their grip on his lacrosse stick. Liam finally relented after a couple of tugs. 

He watched as Theo easily twirled the stick between the hands before demonstrating himself. “When you receive the ball, actually receive it; don’t just go for it.” He curved his body back as if a ball were coming at him, going with the arch of the imaginary toss. “That way you can use the force to your advantage, instead of trying to nullify it.” 

“It’s easy for you to say when you’re not playing,” Liam rebuttled, feeling weirdly defensive of his playing. Had he been tensing up without noticing? How long had he been playing for? And here Theo was picking him apart after one match. Who did he think he was. “Besides how the fuck would you know? You’ve never played in your goddamn life.” 

Theo shrugged casually, which only fueled Liam’s anger further. “Didn’t say it would be easy to change. And I work by a boxing gym. I see how they dodge and receive punches- it’s kinda similar isn’t it?”

“No it’s not,” Liam said through gritted teeth. “Not at all.” 

He just received another shrug in response. “You move kinda similarly to someone who’s defending. I just noticed that.” 

“Whatever,” Liam said, rolling his eyes. “Why are you trying to help me anyway?” 

“I’m considering this part of my community service,” Theo smirked, waving his hand casually. “Helping the needy- all that good stuff.” 

“Has anyone told you you’re an asshole?”

Theo gave him an almost conspiratory grin. “Only, every day.”

* * *

“Masoooonnnnn,” Liam whined, thumping his head against his pillow. “I still don’t get it.” 

“Pouting about it will get you nowhere,” Mason responded without even looking up from his textbook. “C’mon Liam we’ve been doing the same question for an hour. What don’t you get about it?” 

“Where does that extra hydrogen ion come from?” Liam asked, shaking his homework sheet in front of Mason’s less than amused face. “Am I going crazy? I thought you couldn’t just make matter?” 

Mason’s sigh was heavier than the earth itself. “Have you not been paying attention to what I said five minutes ago, Liam?”

Liam pouted some more. “No?”

“I can only help you if you pay attention,” Mason scolded, sounding a lot like his mother. 

“I know- I’m sorry, you know I have a short attention span,” He went around the back of the chair mason was sitting on and wrapped his arms around him. “Please help me, Sensei.” 

“You’re a little shit. You know that, right.” Mason buried a hand into Liam’s hair, rubbing at his scalp just how Liam liked it. “You should ask Hayden to help if you want that cute shit to work.

Liam shook his head into Mason’s neck. “She’s even meaner than you are.” He lifted his head back up and slid up to sit on the desk next to Mason’s textbooks. “Besides all she does nowadays is stick her tongue down Tracy’s throat.”

“Oooo someone’s jealous,” Mason teased, poking at Liam’s thigh.

“I’m not,” He protested earnestly, “It just doesn’t help me study chemistry.”

“Ok, ok,” Mason relented, taking the homework from Liam’s hand and flipping to the correct place in his textbook. “The reason there can be an extra hydrogen ion added to the equation is cause the reaction is happening in an acidic environment so you can add hydrogen ions to balance out the equilibrium reaction.”

Liam nodded in agreement, pretending to understand. “An acidic environment.”

“Yup,” Mason agreed. “Speaking of acidic environments, how was practice?”

“Don’t you mean how does Corey Bryant’s butt look?”

Mason spluttered. “I can be genuinely interested in your hobbies.”

“Uh huh,” Liam muttered, “That’s why you started going to practices just this past year? Nothing to do with that cute twink on defense?” It was Liam’s turn to tease.

“Don’t call him a twink!” Mason hit him as Liam laughed hysterically. “He’s more of a twunk.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” Liam responded, sneakily copying Mason’s answers as he was busy day dreaming. “His butt still looks great in spandex; if you were wondering— but of course you’re not interested, right?”

“I was not at all wondering that, but thank you for your update,” Mason said solemnly. “But seriously, how was practice? Team look any better than last year?”

“No,” Liam groaned, dropping his pencil in frustration and rubbing at his face. “And what’s worse is we got a new waterboy.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Mason mused. “It'd be good to have extra help, right?”

“Not if that help comes from Theo Raeken.” 

Liam could see Mason’s eyes bulge out of his head. “Theo Raeken? I swear all the hot guys play lacrosse.”

“He’s not playing with us,” Liam growled. “He’s just a waterboy… and an asshole.”

“It’d let him be rude to me any day,” Mason said dreamily.

“Mason! What the fuck?” Liam slapped him upside the head.

“What? he’s hot,” Mason justified while rubbing the back of his head. “Besides he hasn’t even been to school for like six months; he couldn’t have done something recently to piss you off.”

“Yes, he could have,” Liam insisted. “He said our team sucked at practice and gave me advice.”

“Well, do you guys?”

“That’s not the point!” Liam threw his hands in the air. “He’s not allowed to say that. It’s like when you are allowed to call me stupid, but no one else is. We’re not cool like that.”

“Ahhhh ok you just don’t like being told the truth,” Mason nodded.

“Exactly— wait no, stop agreeing with him cause he’s hot, Mason!” Liam shook him by his shoulders as his best friend just laughed.

“Damn, Dunbar,” Mason giggled as Liam spun him around in his chair. “I’ve never seen you get so worked up about someone.”

“He just rubs me the wrong way, ok?” Liam pouted, finally bringing Mason around to face him.

“Ok, fine we don’t like him,” Mason relented, tugging on Liam’s sweatshirt.

“Good,” Liam said happily, patting Mason’s head happily. “You coming to the scrimmage? It’s gonna be a home match.”

“Yeah, sure,” Mason shrugged. “On one condition.”

“What?”

“Theo needs to be there.”

Liam will defend himself to the grave that Mason deserved to be thrown out of his chair. 

* * *

The next day at practice, Liam decidedly ignored everything about Theo, even if Mason’s voice echoed in the back of his mind. 

_‘But he’s just so hot’_

Whatever, he didn’t care how many abs or how large his back muscles were, Theo was still an asshat and a pain in his ass. He tightened his grip on his lacrosse stick as he readied for his turn on the goal. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Theo bouncing back and forth from picking up stray balls to handing out water bottles to exhausted players. He was surprisingly gentle with his given tasks. As if he could sense it Theo looked up to lock eyes with Liam across the field. 

_‘You have to loosen up’_

Liam rolled his eyes at Theo’s imaginary voice in his head. 

“Dunbar!” Coach yelled, “You’re up!” 

He jogged into place, feeling Theo’s gaze behind his back, letting his grip of his lacrosse stick fall slightly. 

_Loosen up. Let the ball come to you._

Issac threw the ball fast, he almost reacted too late. Liam stepped back and allowed the ball to be in control of his motion, swinging his lacrosse stick back, before bringing it forward. Using the momentum he had gathered he twirled in the spot on complete instinct and shot for the net without looking. There was that beautiful satisfying thump that Liam had learned to love. He looked up to see the ball bouncing right behind Danny’s left leg. 

“Nice one! Dunbar!” Coach clapped as a bubble started to build in Liam’s chest. “Ok! Who can top that? Stilinski you’re next!”

“What? Why?” Stiles exclaimed. “ That was perfect and you know I’ll look like shit!” 

“Cause I said so!” Coach barked back. “Now get your ass out there!” 

Chuckling, Liam jogged his way back to the bench, to observe the others take their turn at catching and shooting. 

“Nice shot,” a deep voice came from behind him. Liam turned around to find Theo looking quite pleased with himself.

“Oh, shut up! It wasn’t all you,” Liam responded, punching Theo in the gut. Damn him- he really did have rock hard abs. “I’m the one who’s been practicing for like 10 years.” 

“You’re right.” Theo hopped over the bench and took the seat next to him. “That’s why you were able to actually understand what I was saying- even if I didn’t explain it well.” He handed Liam a water bottle and Liam accepted it gratefully. 

“So you don’t play any sports?” Liam questioned before taking a swig of water. 

“Not that I know of,” Theo mused, picking at a scab on his knee. “Why?”

Liam suddenly felt flustered. “Because- you’re- you know…” He let his sentence fall off, into the air between them. Theo grinned wider. 

“I am ‘you know’?”

“You’re very… in shape,” Liam said, landing on the least embarrassing phrasing. 

“Aww thank you for noticing.” Theo looked even more pleased with himself. It made Liam want to punch him even more. “But like I said, there’s a gym next door to where I work. I work out there from time to time.”

“Where do you work?” Liam asked curiously. 

“None of your business short stack,” Theo retorted, ruffling Liam’s hair. 

“Hey!” Liam said, patting his hair back into place, which was completely useless due the helmet he had been wearing in the summer heat. “You’re like two inches taller than me.” 

“Two inches can make a huge difference.” Theo licked his lips slowly, deliberate strokes that made Liam’s eyes trail behind. “Trust me; I know.” 

Liam shot back up. “You’re disgusting.” He grimaced, pushing Theo straight off the bench, tumbling right on to his ass. Quite unfairly, before Theo could even gather his bearings, Liam already had bounced his way back to the field, trying to shake off whatever feelings Theo’s damn tongue had caused. 

Even though it was a particularly hot day, Liam decided to stay after practice, giving Coach Finstock another dazzling smile as he promised to clean up after himself and not die alone on the field, because of course Coach couldn’t deal with another ‘neglect’ lawsuit on his hands. He let everyone else trick off the field before straightening his gear and getting back into position, ready to practice on moving with more intent, like a certain waterboy had told him to. Not that he would ever listen to Theo. 

“Hey, Dunbar!” Liam turned around just in time to see a lacrosse ball come flying out of nowhere. He ducked to avoid it instead of attempting any sort of catch. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He stomped over the Theo who already had another ball ready to throw at him. 

“Thought you needed some practice on paying attention,” Theo responded, casually tossing the ball back and forth between deft fingers. Liam watched the ball go up in the air then back into Theo’s hand before memorizing his rhythm and snatching it up mid-toss. 

Theo looked almost impressed as Liam threw it straight into the goal from the sideline. “I think my reflexes are just fine. Thank you very much.” 

“Look, Dunbar.” Theo crossed his arms over his chest, making his muscles bulge out in a very distracting manner. “I’m not saying you don’t have the skills. I’m saying they need to be refined.” Liam just raised an eyebrow at him, without bothering to waste his breath with a response, so Theo continued. “How would you describe Coach’s style of play?”

Liam immediately pictured war flashbacks of Coach Finstock’s spartan training. He shuddered. “Aggressive.”

“Exactly,” Theo said, producing another ball out of thin air and tossing it lightly to Liam. “And you play pretty similarly.” Liam opened his mouth to protest, but quickly stopped. He guessed he could be categorized as an aggressive player. It’s why Coach liked him so much. 

“So what?” Liam said defensively. “That’s not a bad thing. Plenty of good teams stack up their players with just strength and force.”

Theo sighed, “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’m saying you don’t have the support to play like that.” 

“Hey!” Liam growled. Nobody talked about his team like that. “Don’t say that about the other guys! You have no idea how hard we all work.” 

“Oh my god, Liam!” Theo exasperated, letting the ball they had been throwing back and forth subconsciously fall to the ground. “I am not saying they’re bad- but they don’t fit that play style. We need to find the right fit.”

_The right fit._

“We?” Liam questioned. “I thought you were just doing this whole thing to get your gym credit?” 

“I am.” Theo rolled his eyes. “But its gonna be fucking embarrassing having to sit and watch you lose every game.” 

“We won’t lose all of them,” Liam mumbled into his jersey as he wiped sweat off his brow with it. 

“Rumor ‘round the water fountain is that you pretty much did last season,” Theo rebutted. “If you don’t want my help, I can just leave now.” He made moves to pick up the last of the balls, before Liam swallowed his pride and stopped him with an outstretched arm. 

“Why don’t we practice passing instead?”

Theo gave him a wicked grin. “I thought you’d never ask.” 

* * *

Them practicing together after practice started to become a thing. They would argue for a small while, pretend to get upset, but eventually would always find them back on the field with Theo making more and more ridiculous tosses to trip Liam up. It was surprisingly helpful and Theo’s omniscient point of view of the team was even moreso. He started not just making suggestions to help Liam’s playing, but also his teammates.

“You know, you could try telling them yourself,” Liam said one day after practice as Theo sat him down with a bullet point list of how the different players should improve their passing. 

“I’d rather not,” Theo responded, playing with the list he had given Liam. “Most of the upperclassmen can barely stand me.” 

“Cause you’re an asshole?” Liam tried to joke as Theo had suddenly become petulant. 

“Something like that,” Theo mumbled, still not looking at Liam in the eye. 

“I guess I’ll keep being your liaison then,” Liam said, snatching the paper away from Theo. “You aren’t so bad, Theo.” 

“Aww Dunbar, you getting soft on me already?” Theo teased, bringing a sparkle back into his eyes. Liam just rolled his eyes. 

“I’ll give these to the guys at practice tomorrow.” He got up from the grass they had been sitting on and wiped off his pants. “C’mon, I’m tired today and Mason’s waiting to do homework with me.” 

Theo followed in suit, falling into step next to Liam. “I gotta go to work anyway.”

“Where do you work again?” Liam asked, trying to slip it in casually. Everytime he asked, Theo seemed to avoid the question. 

“At your mom’s house,” Theo spat back maturely. 

“Ha ha,” Liam mock laughed. “Didn’t know we were still in the third grade.”

“You’re short enough to be one.” Liam jumped on his back in retaliation, playfully punching down his spine as Theo completely lost it. He tried to hold both of them up, but they ended up tumbling to the ground. 

“You idiot,” Theo gasped. “Why would you-”

“Liam!” Mason came running up from behind them, out of breath. “I’ve been calling you for like ever. What’s taking you so long?” His eyes widen as he gazes upon the pile of lims Theo and Liam created. “Oh hello. Sorry to interrupt.” 

“You weren’t interrupting anything,” Liam sighed as he detangled himself from Theo, who had gone quiet. “Raeken was just being an idiot.” 

“Me?” Theo squeaked at a pitch Liam had never heard before. “You jumped me, Liam.” 

“You jumped him?” Scratch that, Mason reached the highest pitch he had ever heard. “I thought we didn’t like him,” Mason side-whispered to Liam, who flushed red and shoved Mason in retaliation. 

“He’s right there,” Liam whispered back. “He can still hear you when you put your hand up like that.”

“Yeah he can,” Theo answered, raising his hand as if he was in class. “Did he just say you don’t like me, Dunbar? What a surprise! And here I thought we were on the road to friendship.”

“Of course I don’t like you!” Liam exclaimed. “I tell you that everyday!”

“Didn’t seem like it from the scene I just walked in on,” Mason inputted, unhelpfully. Theo nodded in agreement, solemnly. “I’m Mason, by the way.”

“Theo,” Theo responded cheerfully. “Thank you for letting me torture Liam during practice.”

“You’re welcome,” Mason said mischievously. “I need a break from it from time to time. It's hard, unforgiving work.” Liam watched the, already dreading the way the two looked at him simultaneously with matching grins.

He’s never going to hear the end of this. 

* * *

  
  


The practice before their scrimmage was brutal. They weren’t nearly where Coach wanted them to be, despite their best efforts. Liam did try going around spreading Theo’s advice for their individual strengthening, but was met with a lukewarm response. Boyd was nice about it, seriously considering the angle change Theo had suggested through Liam, even practicing with it a couple of times with good results. Jackson on the other hand just sneered.

“Look man,” He said without a glance to Liam. “Just because you’re getting to start this year, doesn't mean you’re anywhere near my level.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Liam frowned, feeling his eyebrow twitch as Jackson glared down at him. “We all need to improve. It was just an observation.”

“How bout you focus on yourself first?” Jackson retorted, shoving past Liam. “How's that anger doing time bomb?” 

Liam crumbled the list he had between his fingers, breathing hard as he tried to control himself. 

“Hey, Whittemore!” Theo never acknowledged the other boys, so Jackson turned to the side just to get hit in the chest by a rogue lacrosse ball. Liam locked eyes with Theo as he winked at him. 

That sent Jackson in a rage. His snarl curling up as he spoke down to Theo. “Mind your own fucking business, waterboy. Just because Coach had to let you in doesn’t mean we have to tolerate you, you fuck up.” The words weren’t even sent at Liam but he winced at their harshness. Theo however seemed unfazed, smiling all the same.

Before he could respond though, Scott held up his hands, running between them, to intervene. “Woah, woah, enough of that- let’s not fight before the first game,” Scott lifted a placating hand to both Jackson and Liam’s shoulder. “We don’t want Coach benching the whole team again, do we?”

Jackson paused for a moment to send one last glare to Theo before scoffing, “Whatever,” and nudging Scott’s hand off his shoulder. Liam instead gave Scott a small smile as Theo simply went back to filling up water bottles. 

After the blow up, Liam thought it was safer to not make suggestions for individual improvement and instead focused more on giving suggestions as Coach pulled out the strategy board when they made their way back to the locker room. Scott and Coach started in a corner talking individually and Liam plucked up the courage to go talk with them.

“Hey, Liam,” Scott greeted as he approached. “Do you need something?” Coach Finstock hadn’t even bothered to look up from his clipboard. 

“Yeah,” Liam suddenly felt very shy. “I have some suggestions for new plays, if you wanna take a look at them.” He quickly shoved the hastily made drawings that he and Theo had done of different attack plans into Scott’s hands. “Only if you want.”

Scott looked at him in surprise. “That’s really cool of you man!” He glanced through the papers. “We’ll definitely take a closer look!” Coach on the other hand snatched the papers from Scott. 

“You better not be wasting my time, Dunbar,” Coach said, before shoving the papers behind his clipboard. “We can do this later, for now we are going with what we have, capiche?” Liam gave him two thumbs up and went to sit next to Corey as Scott and Coach readied to give them a pep talk.

“Listen up, tulips!” Coach yelled to get their attention. “Tomorrow’s our first match of the season. It’s a practice one. So it doesn’t count in this year’s tournament.” He paused to stare them down individually. Liam gulped as his gaze fell on him. “But I swear to god if we lose such an easy opponent-“ He brought his fist up to his mouth, shaking. “If you think I’m loud now, wait and see.”

“I think what Coach is trying to say is,” Scott interrupted quickly, before Finstock could get too out of hand. “We should take a scrimmage just as seriously as an official match, right?”

Coach Finstock rolled his eyes. “You and your politics, McCall.” He flips the board around to reveal the starting line up. “Regardless, here’s our lineup. As you can see all of you have to play because you pansies have scared everyone else off.”

So much for motivational speeches. Liam had been excited to be a starter as a sophomore, but it kind of stung that it was just because they barely had enough players to build a full roster. 

“So we got Mahealani on goal.” Coach pointed to his little figure on the board and then the player in the back. “We got Bryant, Boyd and Garret on defense.” All three nodded politely. “Then Lahey, Holloway, and Stilinski in the midfield.”

Stiles spluttered at that. “Wait a minute!”

Coach sighed, “What could you possibly need?”

“Midfielders have to run way more than anyone else!”

“Your point?”

Stiles just gestured to himself. “I am much more delicate than the average player.”

Coach just shrugged. “Deal with it.” He turned back to his board. “And the rest of you- McCall, Whittmore, and Dunbar- offense.” A pit in Liam’s stomach bubbled up nervously as Jackson glared at him. He wasn’t sure if he was the best fit for their offensive point, but he sure as hell wasn't going to complain like Stiles. “Everyone understand their position?”

An exhausted ‘Yes, Coach’ rang through the locker room.

“Good, let's talk strategy,” Coach moves on, drawing lines across the board. “Get the ball no matter what. We play hard and fast; this team is a lot younger and smaller than the bunch of you- use it to your advantage and don't let up, got it?”

Liam felt it wasn't much of a strategy, as much as he loved Coach for his hilarious hijinks, he could see Theo’s point. There was no clarifying unity to their plays- just get the ball and be stronger than your opponent. When bulldozing the other team doesn’t work, what happens then? He left the meeting feeling a little conflicted about the next days match; hopefully they could pull through? 

It was supposed to be an easy win anyway- how bad could it be?

* * *

They were somehow losing spectacularly in the first half to what essentially was a group of glorified eight graders, all hyped up on something that didn’t seem like just energy drinks. The spectators were getting less and less enthused with every play, but thankfully due to it not being an official match, the bleachers weren’t too crowded. Even so, Liam could see Mason frantically waving a “Number 9 is All Mine’ sign in the crowd of people, a joke sign that had become kind of a thing back in middle school.

“What the hell are you all doing out there?” Coach yelled, clipboard shaking in his hands. “They are basically children. How are you not crushing them right now?” 

“Cause they are little demons!” Stiles explained. “I swear if they didn’t have their helmets on they’d be gnawing at my ankles.”

“I also feel like it's kinda hard to play aggressively,” Issac piped up, actually making a point, unlike Stiles who kept muttering about the water in the area turning kids into demons. “Like you said they are a lot smaller than us, it’s way easier to accidentally foul or hurt them.”

“Maybe we should switch up our strategy,” Boyd suggested. “Go for something more defense heavy.”

“At this point there’s no point of that,” Jackson argued, getting slightly more heated. “We have to make up the point difference in the second half and we can’t just do that by defending.”

“But an aggressive offense isn’t working either,” Scott said, worrying his lip a little, like he does when he isn’t sure what to do. Liam suddenly caught Theo mulling around in the background, clearly trying hard not to look like he was eavesdropping into the huddle. He knew what he had to do.

“Hey, Coach!” Liam piped up, he cowered a little bit as the team stared him down curiously. “Remember those plays I gave you?” Coach nodded and he couldn’t help the smirk that grew on his lips as he caught Theo’s playful gaze. “There’s one that I think might work on them.” 

* * *

_“And Dunbar comes in at the last second for another goal! The Beacon Hill Cyclones pull the win by the skin of their teeth!”_

Liam could barely hear the commentators ringing in his ear as he grabbed his nearest teammate and pulled them into a hug. They had won, by some miracle. He whooped with the rest of the team as they ended up in some sort of dogpile, Stiles sitting on top because, of course he would. The grin on his face was starting to hurt. Yeah, he did love to play lacrosse just for the sport, but damn did it feel good not to lose.

“OK, ok enough celebrating,” Coach Finstock said, as the team tried to group hug him as well. “You didn’t win fucking State ok? It was one scrimmage match.” Despite his words, Coach himself seemed like the win had changed his whole demeanor, not that he would ever express that verbally to the boys. “Dunbar!” He suddenly shouted. The team went quiet as Coach acknowledged him. “Those were some good ideas.” That was as well as a ‘I love you’ from Coach Finstock. Liam was completely floored. 

“It wasn’t all me,” he blurted before everyone could give him all the credit. “Theo actually came up with most of it.”

“Theo?” Stiles asked. Liam nodded. “As in Theo Raeken? The ‘I’m too cool to like anything other than myself’ Theo?”

“The one and only,” Theo smirked from behind the group, holding a couple of water bottles out to some of the guys. “Don’t hurt yourself thinking about it too much Stiles.” 

Stiles opened his mouth the retort, face scrunching up into to some sort of anger, before slapped a palm over his mouth.

“Thank you, Theo,” Scott said instead. “Those plays really saved our ass out there.”

Theo nodded politely in response. “No problem.”

“They really did save us, kid,” Coach interrupted, eyeing Theo up and down as if he suddenly had one of his very bad ideas. He paused for a moment, musing. “How bout you help me coach instead, waterboy? These idiots can clean up after themselves.” 

“I’m not sure if I can-”

“He’s not fucking qualified to do that,” Jackson snarled. “Just cause he made a few lucky plays doesn’t mean you just promote him to assistant coach.” Liam could see Theo’s eyebrow twitch at Jackson’s words, but instead he just gave the team an icy smile. 

“Actually Coach, I’d love to assist you in your strategy,” He said, suddenly the epitome of politeness. 

“Great,” Coach exclaimed, oblivious to the tension growing between Theo and Jackson. He slapped Theo on the back, sending him tumbling forward. “You start helping out tomorrow at practice. The guys can mix their own Gatorade. We got more important things to discuss.”

“Of course,” Theo smirked. Liam had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. Of course the only reason Theo would ever do anything proactive was out of spite- and God did Liam kind of love him for it. 

* * *

The following weeks Liam fell into a new, strange routine that somehow revolved around Theo. He didn’t know when Theo had become a center part of his social sphere, but he was no longer complaining about it. Theo was like a fungus, he just was resilient and grew on you eventually whether you liked it or not. The rest of the team also started to warm up to Theo in the following weeks. Jackson and him were still at odds, though the former would still have to begrudgingly listen to him anyway, and Theo and Stiles had their weird love-hate relationship. Liam was convinced all they were trying to do was see who’s sarcasm could withhold the longest- and it didn’t seem like either were giving up anytime soon. 

Despite Theo now practicing with the team, and helping out way more hands on then he did before, he and Theo still insisted on practicing after practice. They were able to be more free with their play style, doing ridiculous passes and shots that would never actually work in a game, but were still fun to try out. 

Liam lay on the ground panting as Theo stood over him with a smile. “You good there, short stack?” 

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that,” Liam whined in response, but gratefully accepting the hand Theo reached out. “How do you have so much stamina.”

Theo shrugged, “I guess I’m just built different.” 

Liam shook his head, laughing, “Yeah, I guess that must be it.” He looked down at his watch. “Shit I gotta go study with Mason. He hates it when I’m late.” 

“Ok, let's get you home then.” Theo nodded towards the parking lot. “Here I’ll drive you.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah, man after you shower,” Theo plugged his nose. “You smell like shit.”

Liam shoved him to the ground. “Hey! So do you!” 

“Yeah but it’s my car,” Theo pointed out. “I can smell however I want. Now go shower. I’ll clean up here.” Theo shooed him away and Liam decided to relent and go shower. He really did stink. Once he was done, Theo was already waiting for him, leaning on his beat up truck, swinging his keys around on his middle finger. 

“Let’s get going,” Liam said to alert him of his presence. Anytime no one was around Theo seemed to get lost in thought. He always wondered what was going through his mind- probably plotting some ridiculous plan. 

The ride was relatively silent at first, Theo playing with the radio as Liam played with his fingers. 

“So what are you and Mason studying together for?”

Liam flushed instantly. “I’m kinda bad at chemistry,” he admitted rubbing the back of his neck. “So, he helps me out with it from time to time. He doesn’t look it but he’s a pretty strict teacher.” 

“Chemistry, huh?” Theo quirked an eyebrow. “You know I’m in AP Chemistry. I could help you out if you want.”

Liam’s jaw dropped. “You are?!”

“Yeah,” Theo said sheepishly. “Stop looking so surprised.” 

“I just- I thought, the whole ‘waterboy’ thing was because you never showed up to class.” 

“You are right,” Theo agreed as he turned into Liam’s neighborhood. “I didn’t show up to school for six months last year, so I fell behind and won’t graduate this year with Scott and Stiles.” 

“Why didn’t you show up?” Liam asked, curious, latching on to a rare moment where Theo actually divulged more information about himself other than pure sarcasm. 

“That is a highly depressing story for another day, little one,” Theo paused as they reached Liam’s house, not unlocking the door. He turned to Liam slowly. “Actually, do you want to go to work with me? I can help you with your chemistry there.” 

Liam hesitated for a moment, before pulling out his phone to text Mason. 

**can I ditch you for Theo?**

_pls do~ tell Theo’s dick I say hi! :)_

**youre disgusting**

_ <3 _

“So what he’d say?” Theo leaned in to look over Liam’s shoulder at his text message with Mason. Liam quickly put his phone in his pocket. 

“He said it was cool!” Liam blurted out too fast. Theo looked at him suspiciously, so he tapped the dashboard as a distraction. “Let’s go! I wanna see where you work! You’ve been so mysterious about it.” 

“I’m not mysterious,” Theo mumbled as he turned the car back on, his engine barely spluttering to life. “I just am a private person. 

“Uh huh,” Liam agreed. “That’s why I hear so many rumors about you, cause you’re just so private.” 

Theo rolled his eyes. “Most of those aren’t even true.” 

“So you didn’t suck off both Aiden and Ethan in the same afternoon.” 

Liam got a smirk that sent a knot into his stomach. “Like I said, most of them aren’t true.” He didn’t know what response he was expecting, but he definitely didn’t think Theo would get the upper hand in the conversation so quickly. 

He just blubbered a little before falling back into his seat, letting out a petulant, “I hate you.” 

Theo gave him a giggle- a straight up giggle- in return.

“Hey you’re the one who asked.”

“Didn’t think you’d actually admit to anything,” Liam mumbled into the window as he pressed his cheek into it, trying to cool his face down. 

“I didn’t admit to anything,” Theo said as he turned into a parking lot. “You just assumed, with your dirty little mind.” Liam just pouted in response. “C’mon, we are here.” He hopped out of the truck quickly and Liam had to practically scramble behind him to keep up. “By the way,” Theo added, as he stopped to turn and face Liam. “You mention this to no one, absolutely no one. Got it?” 

“Yessir!” Liam gave him a mock salute. 

“Ok let’s go then,” Theo said, frog marching Liam through a back door. He couldn’t help but be nervous. Theo was always so dismissive, he wondered if his job was something illegal. As they turned down the hallway, the sound of laughter echoed through the building. Liam sped up, curiosity getting the better of him. 

“Mr. Theo!”

“Mr. Theo, you’re late! We had snacks without you!” 

“Aww man,” Theo crouched down to immediately greet a whole herd of children, bouncing up and down to see him. “You didn’t save anything for me?”

“Malia said not to!” a small brown haired kid from the back said. 

“Yeah,” another blonde girl with pigtails agreed. “She said you don’t deserve a snack cause you’re late.” 

“Well, that’s pretty mean of Malia don’t you think?” Theo asked. 

“I heard that!” Said an angry voice from the entrance. 

“You were meant to!” Theo screamed back, to an uproar of giggles from the children. 

Liam couldn’t believe his eyes. Theo Raeken, The Theo Raeken, worked with kids; at a daycare. He might actually pass out from this. 

“This place is actually an after school tutoring place,” Theo explained to Liam as the kids calmed down, but still stared curiously up at the pair of them. Liam gave a tiny wave to one of the girls, who quickly glared back. Tough crowd. “They’ll get used to you,” Theo laughed. “Hey everyone! This is my friend Liam! He’s gonna be studying with us today!”

“I don’t like him,” a boy in the front said bluntly.

“He looks dumb,” said another one in agreement. That caused a whole wave of murmuring from the children, all mumbling various forms of the word ‘dummy’

“Hey guys,” Theo reprimanded. “What did I say about guests?”

“We have to be nice,” They all chorused together. Liam couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping at their interactions, glossing over the fact that most of the students had called him a big dummy, Liam was amazed at the way Theo commanded the room, turning up his charm all the way. Where was this guy when he was scowling at the team, snarking at them to get the plays right? 

Theo nudged him out of his stupor. “Huh?”

“They apologized to you,” Theo whispered, raising an eyebrow that said ‘ _ please try not to be a colossal idiot right now _ ’. 

“Oh yeah,” Liam stumbled over his words. “That’s ok guys.” He looked at Theo for approval, but just got an eye roll- Liam was going to take that as a win. 

“Ok guys let’s get back to work!” Theo asked, clapping his hands together. “The faster we finish our homework, the more we get to play!” Liam watched as all the kids diligently took their seats and began to scribble on their various assignments. “That includes you, numbnut.” Theo whacked him on the head in what, Liam thought, was an unnecessary harsh move. 

“I’m going, sheesh.” Liam rubbed the back of his head, while looking around. “Where can I sit.”

Liam did not like the smirk that formed on Theo’s face.

“Oh, you can sit in the naughty corner!”

It was hard to concentrate on his work. He tried to blame it on his seat being too small, but in reality it was because Theo was being so fucking cute. The kids obviously fawned over him as he answered their questions easily and explained boring subjects in ways that made them laugh. It was wildly entertaining to watch and soon the hours flew by fast and Theo was closing up.

“And then there was one,” Theo said, approaching Liam’s desk in the corner. “How’s the time out chair suiting you?”

Liam crossed his arms and pouted. “I haven’t done anything wrong! I want a retrial!”

Theo threw his head back and laughed- Liam tried hard not to trace the line of his throat, but it was so addicting. “Maybe next time, short stack.” He rubbed the top of Liam’s head. “How’s the chemistry going?”

“It’s dumb,” Liam said waving his homework sheet around. “So, so dumb.”

Theo pulled up a chair next to him, close enough for Liam to notice the stubble growing along his chin. “What are you staring at?”

“Nothing!” Liam stuttered, arms flailing in panic, sending a textbook onto the floor. “You need to shave!” Damn him and his stupid toilet mouth. 

Theo rubbed at his chin thoughtfully as Liam itched to do the same. “I forgot to shave this morning, but that’s besides the point.You,” Theo said, poking Liam between his eyebrows. “Need to concentrate on this.” He shoved the paper in Liam’s face. “What section are you guys on?”

Liam cleared his throat and straightened his notes, flipping to the latest page. “Chemical bonding and Molecular Geometry.”

Theo whistled, “You got your work cut out for you.”

“Is it that bad?” Liam started to panic.

“No, no; don’t worry,” Theo assured him. “It’s just really dense. What section?”

“Covalent bonding,” Liam said pointing to some of the practice problems in the book. “I don't understand how people just know if it will be a double bond or whatever.”

Theo moved his hand away from the textbook with his own and Liam’s brain short circuited. He could vaguely hear Theo going on about counting the number of electrons, but all Liam could see and feel was his hand on top of his own. “Liam! You’re not paying attention are you?”

“I am,” He lied immediately. Theo gave him an unimpressed look. 

“You know what we could try instead?” Theo finally let go of his hand and Liam could finally breathe again.

“What?”

Theo looked at him shyly but excitedly. “Sometimes when students don’t get a topic, I make up stories to go along with them.” He looked down when Liam didn't respond immediately. “We don’t have to try it if you don’t want to though.”

“Of course I want to try it,” Liam said, deftly brushing his fingers against Theo’s own as he scooted closer to him. Theo looked up at him in surprise. 

“Really?” He flicked at Liam’s fingers with his own, toying with them in a way that made Liam want to burst into flames. 

“Yeah, really,” Liam confirmed, Theo’s grip on his fingers tightened after he agreed. “Nothing else has worked so far.”

“Ok lets do it then.” Theo nodded and immediately started a spiel about Mr. Hydrogen, how he’s an important CEO, who has his own type of connections to the other elements. 

Liam was simultaneously mesmerized and distracted. Theo’s explanations and stories made everything so easy to understand, but the way he played with Liam’s fingers every time he’d get something right. Liam surprised both of them by finally just going for it and intertwined their fingers fully. Theo stuttered over his explanation of diatomic gases, but quickly recovered, instead rubbing insistent circles with his thumb into the back of Liam’s hand. Liam was practically swooning. Who knew chemistry could be so romantic?

Theo didn't let go of his hand until it was time to pack, leaving one final press of his thumb into Liam’s wrist. His fingers quickly found Liam’s again as they entered his truck, both of them going for the center console. Liam subconsciously pulled back, but Theo brought his arm back to the center, tucking his palm underneath his own. 

If it stayed like that for the whole car ride back to Liam’s, well- nobody needed to know.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
